Lehman High School students Jermimie Rodriguez, from left, Daniel Villalobos, Daniel Vargas, Javier Almendarez and Jessie Neute work together to scoop trash out of Lake Kyle during last weekend’s Plum Creek Watershed Clean-up. Photo by Lincoln Ramirez
By WES FERGUSON
The floodwaters that tore through Plum Creek last month have receded, but they left behind an unwelcome present at Lake Kyle: tires, bottles, cans and other debris.
On Saturday morning, an estimated 200 volunteers, including more than 60 Lehman High School students, gathered nearly a ton of trash from around the lake and the creek watershed.
“They cleaned up all 100 acres,” said Kerry Urbanowicz, the city’s parks and recreation director. “There’s not a piece of trash left.”
The most unusual hunk of junk found on the cool, breezy Saturday? An old toilet.
“No snakes, no critters,” Urbanowicz reported.
For several years, the annual cleanup has been a service project for Lehman students in J.D. Stumpf’s environmental science classes. The outing gives his students a firsthand look at the interconnectedness of the lake, the creek and its watershed, he said.
“If trash is coming through the drainage ditches, it’s going to wind up in the creek,” said Stumpf, adding that Plum Creek is already stressed by dog poop and fertilizers, among other contaminants.
That’s bad news for people who live downstream and draw some of their drinking water from it.
“We want to ease the strain on the creek,” he said.
One of Stumpf’s students, sophomore Paloma Barberera, jokingly bragged that she picked up half the trash by herself. Then she revised her estimated contribution at two trash bags’ worth.
“I like to hang out and walk around outside, and I want to save the world one step at a time,” she said.
Lake Kyle rose 10 feet in the January floods, which also forced nearby Lehman Road to close for several days, while scattering driftwood around the creek and lake. The volunteers stacked the driftwood and other woody debris so parks employees could mulch it at a later date.
The cleanup came just in time for Lake Kyle’s grand opening March 10. The city is also working to open the Plum Creek Preserve and Nature Trail, several hundred acres of park land and open spaces.
Eating a slice of donated pizza after the cleanup, Urbanowicz paused to admire the view.
“This creek has turned from a nasty pit into something that’s pretty nice,” he said.
If you go:
What: Lake Kyle and park headquarters Grand Opening
When: 10 a.m. March 10
Where: 700 Lehman Road
Details: Join the Kyle Parks and Recreation Department as it celebrates its new home at Lake Kyle.
Information: 512-262-3939, www.cityofkyle.com/recreation/lake-kyle-park-headquarters
